Blackmail director: Britain puts pressure on business from partner countries of the Russian Federation

The United Kingdom is closing access to the banking sector to businesses from Russia's friendly countries, Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin told Izvestia. All this is being done to increase pressure on Moscow. According to the diplomat, Britain also uses blackmail, intimidates business circles and imposes on Russian partners a refusal to cooperate with the Russian Federation in exchange for investments in the future — now London has no funds for this because of the costs to Ukraine. The EU is acting in a similar way, the new package of sanctions of which, according to media reports, will include restrictions against ports from Indonesia and Georgia. In addition, the European Commission confirmed to Izvestia that compliance with restrictions is being discussed at free trade negotiations with other countries and structures.

Britain is trying to prevent Russian trade

In public contacts with third countries, the British try to be as careful as possible and promote a predominantly positive agenda, of course, not without traditional Russophobic statements, Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin said in an interview with Izvestia.

— However, destructive backstage work is underway. The British use the tools of unilateral restrictions against business people, including those from friendly countries. First of all, they deprive them of access to their banking system and the service sector. They use blackmail, intimidation, as well as deception and petty bribery," the diplomat said.

The usual scheme they impose on Russian partners is to refuse to cooperate with the Russian Federation now in exchange for investments in the future.

— In fact, none of this is going to happen. There is no money. Everything goes to Ukraine or, at best, to the world's largest trading powers," Kelin stressed.

The Starmer government is now increasing restrictions in three areas. Firstly, it includes more and more tankers in the sanctions lists: their number reached 540 by February. Secondly, supplier networks in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Singapore, which allegedly provided electronics supplies to the Russian Armed Forces, were under attack. In October 2025, London imposed sanctions against four oil terminals in China and the Indian company Nayara Energy Limited. Earlier, several Kazakhstani and Kyrgyz companies were subject to restrictions.

In addition, on February 9, the Office for the Implementation of Financial Sanctions of Great Britain published updated recommendations. British officials regularly consult with financial institutions in the UAE, Turkey and India, demanding compliance with sanctions against the Russian Federation.

The United Kingdom does have the opportunity to put pressure on trading partners through the creation of technical barriers, the introduction of standards and labeling requirements, which may complicate the access of their goods to the British market, Oleg Okhoshin, senior researcher at the Center for British Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia.

—London also uses its influence in global financial institutions (FATF, G20) to regulate capital flows and monitor transactions," the expert said.

According to him, the Kingdom is not interested in imposing sanctions against India because it is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and has strong trade ties and joint investment projects. The situation with China is completely different: Britain adheres to the anti-Chinese policy imposed on it by Washington within the framework of the "special relationship".

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How is the preparation of the 20th package of EU sanctions progressing?

Meanwhile, Brussels is preparing to adopt another package of anti-Russian sanctions. It is planned to approve it at a meeting of the foreign ministers on February 23, and the list should come into effect the next day. According to Euractiv, among the restrictions discussed are a ban on servicing Russian oil tankers, the export of luxury goods to the Russian Federation, as well as a reduction in quotas for the import of fertilizers from it.

However, it will not be easy to achieve consensus on the adoption of sanctions. According to Bloomberg, Greece and Malta oppose the main measure of the package, which is to replace the non—working ceiling on oil prices with a complete ban on the provision of any services for the maritime supply of these products from the Russian Federation. The reason is that both countries play a major role in the maritime transport market. In addition, Hungary insists on the exclusion of sports officials from Russia from the blacklist.

By the way, it cannot be ruled out that Bratislava and Budapest will resort to blocking the new package in order to ensure the resumption of oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. For the same purpose, Hungary has already stopped supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine. Earlier, the pumping of fuel on the Druzhba was stopped due to damage. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on February 15 that Kiev was deliberately delaying the resumption of supplies so that Budapest would agree to Ukraine's accession to the EU.

At the same time, the European Commission seeks not just to establish new bans, but to cut off ways to circumvent them through intermediaries. For example, the EU intends to impose sanctions against ports of third countries — Indonesia and Georgia — for operations with Russian oil. The blacklisting of new companies from China, Central Asia and the UAE is also being discussed.

Back in January 2023, the EU appointed David O'Sullivan special envoy for sanctions. Compliance with restrictions is being discussed at the free trade talks, an official representative of the European Commission told Izvestia.

"Our free trade agreements provide a privileged, trust—based platform for dialogue and cooperation with our partners on a range of issues, including issues related to sanctions," the EC said.

Earlier, the EU approved a free trade agreement with India. Izvestia wrote that the European side was trying to include in the document a clause on New Delhi's compliance with anti-Russian sanctions. The EC is currently negotiating free trade agreements with Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the Gulf Arab Cooperation Council.

Compliance with sanctions against Russia is part of the EU's diplomatic relations with third countries in general, Belgian MEP Rudy Kennes told Izvestia. According to him, it is likely that the prevention of circumvention of sanctions is on the list of topics for negotiations.

—The effectiveness of the adoption of traditional EU sanctions is decreasing with each new package, the expansion of secondary sanctions remains almost the only tool of Brussels in its pressure on Russia," says German political scientist Egor Belyachkov.

The expert concluded that pressure on Russia's trading partners depends on their weight in the international arena. If it is easy to influence individual European countries because of their dependence on Brussels, then the EU has to act carefully with regard to China so as not to provoke it into retaliatory measures that could hurt the European economy.